Tissue clearing and imaging: an interview with early career researcher, Marika Ruiyao Cai

Ruiyao Cai (Marika) is a PhD student at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. She was born in China but grew up in Italy and has obtained her Bachelor’s, as well as her Master’s degree, at the University of Milan–Bicocca (Milan, Italy). After completing an internship at the University of Oxford (UK), Marika moved to Munich to join the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences at LMU. Marika’s current research (supervised by Ali Ertürk, ISD, LMU) focuses on understanding key mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration after stroke and acute brain injuries, such as traumatic brain injury. To this quest, her lab takes a multidisciplinary approach by using advanced neuroscience imaging, including the use of uDISCO tissue clearing, for whole-body imaging of the mouse.

In this interview, Marika tells us about her work using the uDISCO tissue clearing approach, and what the biggest challenges faced by early career researchers are. She also provides her opinion on what hot topic in neurodegeneration she’s most excited about.

What led you to work on transparent imaging to study neurodegeneration?

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